Category Archives: WPC

Art, Flowers, Naima, Photoshop, Road Trip, Still Life, WPC - Alternate, WPC - Reminder

Such a Classic Waste of Cool

June 19, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Another week of working from home almost in the books. I don’t even know how long it has been now. I don’t that much has changed. I still listen to 96.1 in the morning. In the afternoons, there isn’t really anything designated any more. I’ve been listening to podcasts I suppose. But not exclusively.

One positive or one thing I’ll miss when I get called back to working in the office is this: I’ll missing sitting under my cherry trees with Naima and eating my lunch. Listening to the birds. Feeling a warm breeze. It is very peaceful, but also makes it hard to go back to work when my lunch is over.

I have been working on the basement, but the project has become more ambitious than expected. There will be pictures when it is done, but it is several weeks out, at least. I’d guess I’m about 35-40% done.

Logan helped me big time last Saturday with the interior of the project. The Citywide Cleanup was also a big help. Lots of stuff hit the curb and are now on the ash heap of history. Although I’m still finding plenty of stuff that needs to hit the dusty trail. Andy helped me get rid of some of that too.

+++++++

I took several YELLOW pictures for this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. I’d like to share the one’s that didn’t make the cut for Monday’s reveal at this point:

I always have fun playing with the “creative” settings on my camera.

+++++++

This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is ROAD TRIP:

ROAD TRIP

A ROAD TRIP is any photo that involves a ROAD TRIP. Doesn’t have to be a large ROAD TRIP. The reveal photo was taken when I went on a ROAD TRIP to get gas. A ROAD TRIP photo doesn’t even have to be taken on a ROAD TRIP. It can be taken showing planning for a ROAD TRIP or preparing for a ROAD TRIP.

Happy photo harvesting!

Bill, Carla, Cathie, Elizabeth, Flowers, Jesse, Jodie Cue, Kim, Linda, Macro, Michelle, Micky, Monica, Naima, Photoshop, Road Trip, Shannon, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 248 – YELLOW

June 15, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

No problems reaching double digits for 37 straight weeks! I didn’t even have to send out an reminder text messages this morning!

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates. You came to see the submissions:

Linda Bennett

Carla Stensland

Tamara Peterson

Michelle Haupt

Bill Wentworth

Carla Stensland

Elizabeth Nordeen

Kim Barker

Christopher D. Bennett

Cathie Raley

Micky Augustin

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Monica Henning

Jesse Howard

Jodie Cue

But enough dwelling on the past. Time to look to the future. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future! This week’s theme:

ROAD TRIP

ROAD TRIP! What a great theme! It might be one of the harder themes consider the current public health environment, but just getting in your car and getting groceries or gas is a ROAD TRIP these days. Even showing the planning on a ROAD TRIP that you will be able to take some day is a good ROAD TRIP image.

I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

+++++++

HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

The picture has to be taken the week of the theme. This isn’t a curate your pictures challenge. This is a get your butt off the couch (my personal experience) and put your camera in your hands challenge. Don’t send me a picture of you next to the Eiffel Tower, when I know you were in Iowa all week. I will point out that I have let that slide some in the past. I will not in the future. Since it is literally about the only rule.

Your submission needs to be emailed to bennett@photography139.com by 11 AM on the Monday of the challenge due date.

I now allow people to text me their submissions. In the past, I had made exceptions for a couple people that aren’t real computer savvy, even though it was an inconvenience for me and required at least 3 extra steps for me. I am now lifting that embargo because I have a streamline way of uploading photos. I’m not giving out my phone number, but if you have it, you can text me.

It should be pointed out that this blog auto-publishes at 12:01 on Mondays. So it wouldn’t hurt to get your picture in earlier.

That is it, them’s the rules.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION DIVISION

Nobody showed class, taste, and sophistication this week by signing up for a Photography 139 email subscription. I’ll try and do better next week.

+++++++

That’s all I got for today, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will commune right here again next Monday. Hopefully it will be a very trippy Monday!

Art, Candid Portrait, Event, Kio, Politics, Still Life, WPC - Reminder

Black Lives Matter – Boone – One

June 12, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

I will write more in depth about my experience at the Boone Black Lives Matter event on Monday. I stayed about 15-20 feet away from it with a mask on because of my deep virus concerns, but I was still able to get a fair amount of pictures.

My short version of the story is that it was a great event. There were a couple of right wing agitators there, but nothing came of them.

Here is my first collection of pictures from the event.

My best guess is that there were about 250 people there, but I’m really bad at making such estimates. However, the Boone New Republican article had a similar estimate.

I saw quite a few people I know, especially from my church, including Pastor Dave and his wife Shari. Kio, of course. Anna Olson, of course. Plus a few people who recognized me, but I didn’t recognize. The face mask thing does make it hard for people to recognize one another, but it is necessary, of course.

There are a couple more collections to come.

+++++++

A reminder that YELLOW is this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme:

YELLOW

A YELLOW picture is any picture where the subject is YELLOW or YELLOW is a major compositional element of the picture. I’ve already received a bunch of submissions, so I doubt I’ll have to send out any reminders on Monday morning.

Happy photo harvesting!

Black & White, Formal Portrait, Logan, State Fair, WPC - Alternate

Ghost in a Dream

June 11, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

In a sad, but necessary decision, the Iowa State Fair officially cancelled for this year yesterday. They sent out the following email:

The Iowa State Fair Board, the governing body who oversees the Iowa State Fair, today voted to postpone the 2020 Iowa State Fair until August 12-22, 2021, amid ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) concerns. The decision was made to protect the health and safety of all Fairgoers.

After a thorough review of possible options, while carefully reviewing current health guidelines and examining operating limitations, it became clear that holding the 2020 Iowa State Fair, which attracts approximately one million people over 11 days, would not be responsible.

“The top priority of the Iowa State Fair has and always will be to protect the health and safety of Fairgoers. While the decision of the Iowa State Fair Board today will certainly come as a disappointment to many, the Board determined that holding a Fair in accordance with current health guidelines related to COVID-19 wasn’t feasible,” said Iowa State Fair Manager and CEO Gary Slater. “We appreciate the support of Fairgoers over the past few months as we’ve reviewed various options for the 2020 Iowa State Fair. We certainly look forward to welcoming over one million people back to the Fair in 2021.”

The Iowa State Fair had been scheduled for August 13-23, 2020. The Iowa State Fair Board delayed a decision as long as possible and believed it was important to make a decision on the Fair now in order to give concessionaires, vendors and Fairgoers planning a trip to the Fair ample notice.

Iowa State Fair staff and management have already begun the process of booking entertainment and planning for the 2021 Iowa State Fair scheduled for August 12-22.

I’m particularly sad because this was supposed to be the year that Jennie’s Grinders returned to the Fair. I am glad that I didn’t spend money or too much time on planning my Photography Salon entries.

I don’t think that the Boone County Fair has decided to cancel yet, but I would have to imagine that it is only a matter of time. Along with Pufferbilly Days.

+++++++

Back in March I took a series of pictures for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE with Logan for the theme FASHION at a roadside park near Grand Junction. I never got around to sharing the alternates until now:

Logan took this picture so he could get a taste of the Lensbaby.

Going out for lunch after church. Taking pictures of people. Seem like weird foreign concepts right now.

Andy, Carla, Dawn, Elizabeth, Jesse, Kim, Michelle, Micky, Shannon, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 247 – SIGNS

June 8, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

No problems breaking double digits this week. 36 straight weeks! I didn’t even have to send out reminder text messages this morning. People were all over SIGNS.

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates. You came to see the submissions:

Elizabeth Nordeen

Andy Sharp

Jesse Howard

Robyn Augustin

Micky Augustin

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Michelle Haupt

Carla Stensland

Christopher D. Bennett

Dawn Krause

Andy Sharp

Kim Barker

Tamara Peterson

YELLOW

YELLOW! What a great theme! But what is a YELLOW picture? A YELLOW picture is simply a picture where the subject is YELLOW or YELLOW is a major compositional element of the image.

I look forward to seeing your submissions!

+++++++

HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

Your submission needs to be emailed to bennett@photography139.com by 11 AM on the Monday of the challenge due date.

It should be pointed out that this blog auto-publishes at 12:01 on Mondays. So it wouldn’t hurt to get your picture in earlier.

That is it, them’s the rules.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION DIVISION

Nobody showed class, taste, and sophistication this week by signing up for a Photography 139 email subscription. I’ll try and do better next week.

+++++++

That’s all I got for today, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will commune right here again next Monday. Hopefully it will be a very yellow Monday!

Art, Black & White, Candid Portrait, Derrick, Evie, Formal Portrait, Jay, Jen, Jonah, Jorge, Layla, Michelle, Movies, Naima, Nature, Photoshop, Railroad, State Fair, WPC - Reminder

Suds, Dickcissel, and Lensbaby Redux

June 5, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Hey, I screwed up the schedule of posts and 2 posts accidentally posted at the same time yesterday. This one, that I took back down and re-posted and another one with daffodils. It is possible that you didn’t get the post about the daffodils yesterday. If that is the case, click on the link below:

My soul and pocketbook are glad to announce that I have finished THE CANVAS WALL PROJECT. 5 new canvases arrived on Monday and I was able to get them up that night. Here are the 5 final canvases:

Before the Swallow Dares – 2020

There is also an update on Naima and birthday wishes for Jorge in there.

+++++++

My soul and pocketbook are glad to announce that I have finished THE CANVAS WALL PROJECT. 5 new canvases arrived on Monday and I was able to get them up that night. Here are the 5 final canvases:

This is what the wall looks like:

Now, I realize that when there is furniture in place, not every picture is visible. That isn’t the important part. The important part is that they are there at all.

On to the next decorating project. Whatever that may be!
+++++++

I don’t consider pictures that were taken in the same calendar year in which we currently exist to be a backlog. However, if I did, this collection of images would be somewhat of a backlog. This clears out all images from January and February that had yet to be edited or curated.

Pictures from a trip to Dickcissel with Naima, some Lensbaby tests, and a picture of the Root Beer Symposium we had during movie night back in January.

We haven’t had Movie Night at The Union Street theater since February, so we haven’t been able to crown a root beer champion, but those pictures might give you the slightest indication of how messy my basement is right now. Although I would estimate that the big parts of the basement cleanup are about 30% done.

+++++++

This is your reminder that SIGNS is this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme:

SIGNS

A SIGNS picture is just that, a picture of a SIGN or multiple SIGNS. Remember, there are more than one kind of SIGN(S).

Happy photo harvesting!

Andy, Angie, Becky, Blogging, Carla, Elizabeth, Naima, Shannon, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 246 – FRIENDS

June 1, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

You are probably wondering why this post didn’t come out at 12:01 PM, on the nose. The reason is simple, my website broke overnight. It didn’t exactly break, but it stopped being able to produce new information.

The Photography 139 is build on love, passion, photography, God, and support for all oppressed classes. But it is also built on a MySQL database. Problem is that the data structure for the MySQL database is allegedly limited to 100 MB. However, the Photography 139 database hit 150 MB last night. Apparently I got away with an extra 50 MB of data before I got shut down.

That meant, I had to export the data from the existing database. Create a new database. Import the data into the new database. Then point the website to the new database. All of that might have been pretty simple, except for the import the data part was a disaster. It was tons and tons of reading help forums, trying to find the answer. You picked a fine time to leave me Webmaster Vest!

However, I survived the process and the website seems to be fully functional again. I guess we’ll find out in the next day or so.

And that, is that!

+++++++

This week just barely made it to double digit submissions. Barely. 35 straight weeks and a sigh. I’m sad that so few of you have FRIENDS. I would offer my friendship services, but you know global pandemic that is being horribly mismanaged and the fact that I am the True Lone Wolf.

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates. You came to see the submissions:

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Tamara Peterson

Angie DeWaard

Andy Sharp

Becky Parmelee

Christopher D. Bennett

Elizabeth Nordeen

Carla Stensland

SIGNS

SIGNS! What a great theme! An easy theme! While very few of us have friends, everybody has access to SIGNS! A SIGNS photo is simply a photo of a SIGN(S). Any kind of SIGNS.

I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

+++++++

HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

Your submission needs to be emailed to bennett@photography139.com by 11 AM on the Monday of the challenge due date.

It should be pointed out that this blog auto-publishes at 12:01 on Mondays. So it wouldn’t hurt to get your picture in earlier.

That is it, them’s the rules.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION DIVISION

Nobody showed class, taste, and sophistication this week by signing up for a Photography 139 email subscription. I’ll try and do better next week.

+++++++

That’s all I got for today, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will commune right here again next Monday. Hopefully it will be a very friendly Monday!

Anders, Animals, Bill, Jay, Willy, WPC - Reminder

Holy Astringent Plum-like Fruit!

May 29, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

The tree-shrub-bush that is right in front of my front door recently was the home to a robin’s nest. I managed to take a few pictures of the transformation from eggs, to nestling to a fledgling that hangs out in my cherry tree in the backyard.

The picture from egg to fledgling are about three weeks apart. Nature is amazing!

+++++++

This is your reminder that FRIENDS is this week’s theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE:

FRIENDS

Hopefully you can find some FRIENDS to photograph. Not the easiest theme, but furry friends count too.

Happy photo harvesting!

Anders, Andy, Angie, Art, Bill, Carla, Cathie, Dawn, Drone, Holidays, Jay, Jen, Jesse, Kim, Logan, Micky, Monica, Photoshop, Self-Portrait, Shannon, Willy, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 245 – SELF-PORTRAIT

May 25, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 6 Comments

I need to start by wishing everybody a happy Memorial Day!

Today is a unique Memorial Day, as we honor both our military personnel that have died in military service and the over 100,000 Americans that have died during the coronavirus pandemic. Hopefully, we will be in a better place in the world next year.

+++++++

Woooo! 34 straight weeks of double digit submissions. I got a lot of feedback from people saying that a SELF-PORTRAIT wasn’t easy for them like it is for me. They aren’t a combination of a young Brad Pitt and a middle-aged Robert Redford. While, I understand that my good looks can be intimidating, it is the fact that I am interesting looking that makes me so dang photogenic, not the fact that I’m so ruggedly handsome.

One person went so far as to send me the excuse that they can’t do a self-portrait, because they only do portraits with somebody holding their neck back. Ridiculous!

That being said, enough people showed the testicular fortitude to get on the other side of the camera for us to eek out double digits again!

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates. You came to see the submissions!

Monica Henning

Kim Barker

Dawn Krause

Andy Sharp

Angie DeWaard

Jen Ensley-Gorshe

Micky Augustin

Jen Ensley-Gorshe

Jesse Howard

Carla Stensland

Cathie Raley

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Christopher D. Bennett

Logan Kahler

FRIENDS

FRIENDS! What a great theme! I mean for most of you. Seeing how I have been scientifically documented to be the one True Lone Wolf, the man that is an island, this will be a difficult theme for me. I might have to play creepy photographer and find a couple of FRIENDS hanging out and clandestinely take their picture.

For the rest of you, this should be fairly simple. Grab a picture of a couple of your FRIENDS physically distancing, while remaining social.

I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

+++++++

HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

Your submission needs to be emailed to bennett@photography139.com by 11 AM on the Monday of the challenge due date.

It should be pointed out that this blog auto-publishes at 12:01 on Mondays. So it wouldn’t hurt to get your picture in earlier.

That is it, them’s the rules.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION DIVISION

Nobody showed class, taste, and sophistication this week by signing up for a Photography 139 email subscription. I’ll try and do better next week.

+++++++

That’s all I got for today, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will commune right here again next Monday. Hopefully it will be a very friendly Monday!

Art, Iowa State, Road Trip, Town Sign Project, WPC - Reminder

Pandemic Birthday

May 22, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 5 Comments

Let me start by saying thanks to everybody that wished me a happy birthday on Monday via text or phone call or Instagram messenger or card in the mail or via haircut or Teams. I’m sure some people even wished me a happy birthday on Facebook. I guess I’ll find out if I ever go on Facebook again.

Even thanks to the people who wished me Happy birthday on the wrong day.

It was a unique birthday. I know that numerous people have celebrated a pandemic birthday this year and many of you will celebrate one in the future. Mine wasn’t necessarily all that bad.

To start with, I took my birthday off. I know I couldn’t do all that much, but I just didn’t want to sit in my office all day. Staring at the walls. The same 4 walls.

I got lucky that on Sunday the new SSD arrived for my work from home computer. I was able to upgrade my work from home computer with the SSD, plus more RAM, and a better processor. I was able to get that work done on Sunday, so I didn’t even step foot in my office all day on Monday.

I slept all the way until 7:30. I got up and ate a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios and watched THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA on Amazon Prime. It wasn’t exactly the movie that I was expecting. It had a weird ending.

Then I took Naima for a car ride. We stopped at the Jay Carlson Wildlife Area and the Harrier Marsh. She got a good run in at both locations.

Then I went home and had a quick lunch. I had decided to go for a short road trip. I knew I couldn’t travel very far, but I wouldn’t to do something I would enjoy. I decided to make a trip to Rolfe, Iowa to see the greatest piece of art ever constructed my the hands of man.

I took several pictures, have a look:

Since I was on kind of a time crunch, I didn’t harvest many signs for THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT, but I did get three bagged:

Bradgate

Callender

Gowrie

When I got back home, I loaded Naima up in the car again and we went over to my Mom’s for my birthday dinner. We had homemade pizza made with the “family sauce recipe”. It doesn’t really belong to the family, but came from a family friend.

On the pizza was sausage, mushrooms, onions, green peppers, and sauerkraut. Delicious!

My Mom also made me a birthday cake. My favorite kind of cake, Mayonnaise Cake! Delicious!

After dinner, we watched the remake of OVERBOARD. I’m not really quite sure how that happened, but maybe I was feeling some 80s nostalgia. Actually, I know I’ve been feeling some 80s nostalgia lately. I recently watched the entire series TEEN WOLF. Entirely based on my fondness for the original TEEN WOLF and my fascination with the absurdity of TEEN WOLF TOO.

After the movie I went back home and finished my day off responding to some text messages before calling it a night.

Pandemic birthday could have been worse, and parts of it were pretty great!

+++++++

This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is SELF-PORTRAIT:

SELF-PORTRAIT

A SELF-PORTRAIT image is simply a picture of yourself. Or a picture of somebody taking a picture of themselves.

Don’t forget that Monday is Memorial Day. While the banks take holidays, Photography 139 never takes a day off. The grind is real! Plan on getting your submissions in accordingly.

Happy photo harvesting!